Summer Camp and Politics
by Elizabeth Culmer
Summary: Three interconnected stories set in an AU where the elemental countries are modern nation-states locked into an uneasy regional standoff. Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, and others meet at summer camp as children and later fight to improve their world.
1. Last Call

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is the intellectual property of Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, VIZ Media, et al. No money is being made from this story and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Note:** I wrote this for **cherokee1**, in response to the prompt: _Naruto AU, summer camp counselors Naruto and Sakura. Camp by the lake._ The sociopolitical details of the AU ended up dominating the fic, despite my occasional attempts to remember the camp setting. Oops. :-/

**Summary:** Sakura and Naruto discuss their futures during their last summer as camp counselors.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o  
**Last Call**  
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Hey, Sakura-chan, looking good!"

Sakura turned slightly in her folding lawn chair at the end of the dock to smile at Naruto. "Hey yourself. Aren't you meant to be supervising arts and crafts this afternoon?"

Her best friend shrugged and dropped down to sit on the dock boards beside her, lounging back on his elbows. "Eh, you know how it goes. Glue fights, glitter and feathers everywhere, and suddenly it's time for the kids to have fun cleaning the showers instead of making tacky picture frames for their 'special memory photos' or whatever. I figured Iruka-san didn't need me around reminding him I'm the one who let the fight get started. Much more fun to watch girls in bikinis than get yelled at."

"They're _fifteen_, you pervert," Sakura said, swatting him affectionately. "We're going into our last year of college. Ogle someone your own age."

Naruto rubbed his damp blond hair with a falsely injured expression. "Well, if you'd wear a two-piece, I wouldn't have to rely on silly fangirls with obnoxious crushes. Take one for the team! You used to wear bikinis for Sasuke. Why not wear one for me?"

"Because I'm not a silly fangirl with an obnoxious crush anymore," Sakura said dryly. "Bikinis are useless for real swimming, which is what I might have to do as a lifeguard. Also, I am not an object placed on this earth solely for men to judge on my sex appeal. You don't see me asking you to wear a thong-style Speedo, do you?"

"Aw, but I would for you, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said. He rolled sideways into the lake to avoid Sakura's retaliation and surfaced with a brilliant smile, neatly treading water despite his laughter. Water sluiced down his tanned skin and highlighted the faint, pinkish scars on his face and shoulders. Sakura flicked at him with her towel and fell easily into a mock game of tug-of-war when he seized the far end.

"See, there's the old Sakura! I was starting to wonder if you remembered how to smile. You're way too serious this summer," Naruto said after a minute, tossing his end of the towel back up onto the dock and swimming toward the ladder. "What's eating you?"

Sakura looked down at the towel she was folding in her lap. "Oh, things. I guess it's just hitting me that next year we'll all be out in the real world, like actual adults. Sink or swim. Sasuke will be going to war. You're going to jump headfirst into the shark tank - don't grin at me like that, it's a totally valid description of politics! And I'm... I'll do something."

Naruto sat cross-legged at her feet and rested the back of his head on the rim of her chair seat between her knees. "You're not going to med school, then? What happened to 'I'm going to be the best doctor ever, and invent new medicines and surgeries, and end up Surgeon General and rearrange all the hospitals so nobody falls through the cracks, and also inspire a thousand people to join Tsunade-hime's Red Cross agency while I'm at it!" I mean, yeah, that's a lot for one person, but you can do it! You're awesome like that."

Sakura sighed. "Yes, well. I probably shouldn't tell you this, but considering how many government secrets you know just by breathing, I doubt it matters. I got a recruitment offer from ANBU. I'm thinking of saying yes."

Naruto tipped his head back to stare at her upside-down. "Whoa. Haruno Sakura, secret agent of Fire Country. Super-spy extraordinaire. You know, I can see it."

"Really? Because I can't," Sakura admitted.

Naruto flapped his hands, his shoulders jostling against her shins. "Well, yeah! You're smart, you're sneaky when you need to be, you never give up, you're good at meeting new people and making them like you without having to fight them, you don't look like you're dangerous even though you totally are... Perfect spy."

Sakura hummed noncommittally and scanned the lake, making sure the campers weren't in trouble. The canoe flotilla was busily negotiating today's obstacle course, the diving lesson on the mid-lake platform was proceeding as planned, and the younger kids splashing about in the roped-off area by the artificial beach were noisily engaged in some kind of volleyball-water polo hybrid. Situation normal, everything fine.

"The thing I don't get is why you'd want to join ANBU," Naruto added, looking serious again. "I know you don't like the government much, and you've always been anti-war. You and Sasuke argued about that _forever_. So why jump into everything you hate?"

Sakura carded her fingers through her friend's messy, water-spiked hair as she tried to formulate her answer. "I don't like fighting and I don't like how the clans dominate the government, but Fire Country is my home and I want to protect our people just as much as you and Sasuke do. I just never figured there was any way for me to do that directly, and also I do honestly like the idea of being a doctor. But if I can help..."

Naruto practically purred under her touch. "Yeah, yeah, if you can help...?"

"Then don't I have an obligation to do whatever I can?"

Naruto caught her hands, stilling her fingers. "Bullshit," he said, abruptly turning to face her. "Nobody's required to do anything. This isn't a police state, no matter what laws that asshole Danzo wants to pass if he ever gets elected."

"Yeah, well maybe I _want_to do something! Maybe I want to make sure things like what happened to Sasuke never happen to anyone else!" Sakura said. "You know it's not healthy for him to be in the army, but you never said one damn thing to stop him from applying to the Academy. He's going to get himself killed before we're thirty, and even if he lives, I'm afraid he's going to end up like Danzo and too many other retired soldiers. Especially on top of everything else! I mean, you know he's not stable. How could he be? If your family had been killed in a terrorist attack-"

She stopped, swallowed her words.

Naruto watched her silently, his hands gentle around hers.

"I'm sorry. That was horribly insensitive of me. I can't believe I forgot," Sakura said.

She really couldn't believe it. After all, the footage of Naruto's parents' death was only replayed on every national holiday and every other time television commenters talked about the origins of the current cold war with Water, Thunder, and Earth Countries. It was etched into everyone's memory, a national moment of shame and catharsis. Namikaze Minato, the first commoner elected as prime minister, standing on a platform at a rally, campaigning to rouse public support for the free trade agreement he'd negotiated with Wind Country. A grenade arching through the air. The prime minister shouting for people to run, throwing himself on the weapon. His wife turning to shield the infant son in her arms. The explosion. The bloody ruin emerging from the smoke and flames. The fearful wail of an orphaned child.

"You know, my dad wasn't even that popular until after he was dead," Naruto said.

Sakura blinked at the non sequitur.

"Everybody always says stuff like, 'Oh, he was such a brave man,' 'Oh, I bet Fire Country would be so rich and strong if he were still around,' 'Oh, he and your mother were such a romantic couple.' All kinds of junk. But you know, he probably would've lost the vote on the trade pact, and people were pissed off that a no-name, no-clan guy married to a foreign shaman somehow got the support of the Senju clan and beat six actual nobles in the elections," Naruto continued. "Nobody ever found the assassins, which means they had support in high places, which means at least some of our own people wanted him dead."

Sakura twisted her hands to lace her fingers through Naruto's.

"So yeah, I know what you feel about wanting to tear down the government, and I know what Sasuke feels about wanting revenge on whoever killed his family. But I'm gonna do it right. We already made a start, getting Tsunade-hime to leave the Red Cross and run for prime minister last year, so Danzo couldn't just sweep in and say, 'Hey suckers, military dictatorship time!' I mean, why do you think I'm studying history and psychology and poly-sci? It's not because I _like_that shit. It's because someday I'm gonna run for office myself, and then we are going to clean this world up."

Sakura bent her head to their joined hands. "The crazy part is that I believe you," she told him. "But you can't do it alone."

"Well, duh. But by then I'll have Sasuke in charge of the army - assuming he even still cares, the bastard - and you... well, I thought I'd have you to run the health ministry, but if you're gonna be a spy, I guess I'll make you an ambassador or something big and diplomatic instead," Naruto said.

"Or your bodyguard," Sakura said. "We have a terrible record when it comes to prime ministers living to leave office and peacefully retire. I'd rather you not imitate your father that closely."

"Pffft, as if," Naruto said. He leaned against the other side of their joined hands, locking his eyes onto Sakura's. "So hey, if you want to be a spy, that's cool. If you decide not to, that's cool too. It's not like I'm ever going to stop being your best friend - and Sasuke isn't either, no matter what he tries to tell himself about being Mister Tough and Stoic now that he knows how to shoot a gun. I'll beat him up if he tries."

"I went down to the Academy to visit him this spring, did I tell you?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, only five hundred times," Naruto said, faking annoyance. "You're totally still a silly fangirl with an obnoxious crush. I bet you went swimming and wore a bikini."

"No, we just bathed naked in a hot tub," Sakura said, with as straight a face as she could manage... which wasn't very. Naruto clearly didn't believe her for a second, judging by how quickly he broke into helpless snickers.

"Anyway, he was the same as always - grumpy and snooty and telling me all my ideas were annoying but he'd go along with them because I was his guest - but one of his classmates pulled me aside one morning and said now she knew why he'd stuck an icon of the Cherry Blossom Goddess into their communal shrine, but did I know how an Uchiha had ended up as a devotee of the Nine-Tailed Fox when the Fox and the Eternal Flame were supposed to be rivals?"

Naruto blinked and pulled back. "What, seriously?"

"Seriously," Sakura confirmed. "So yeah, maybe he won't answer your letters or your phone calls, but he remembers."

Naruto grinned. "Ha! I'll have to tell the Fox tonight when I give him his sake. That'll piss him off so bad, having an Uchiha as a follower even in name only. Hey, maybe I can send him south and make him fuck around with Sasuke's luck or something."

Sakura kicked his knee with her bare foot. "Don't you dare. Just because you have a big bad nature spirit tied to your family line doesn't give you the right to abuse the connection, any more than you have a right to abuse your father's name or your connections to the Senju."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but it's fun to daydream," Naruto said. "Anyway! The sun's just about hit the trees on the far side of the main complex, which means it's nearly five o'clock. Better whistle the campers in."

Sakura looked down at her wrist, checking the time against Naruto's estimate; he was, as usual, correct within five minutes. "How do you do that?" she asked, and then tuned out his babble about nature and looking underneath the underneath and his godfather's evil wilderness hiking trips. She lifted her whistle from the cord around her neck and blew three long, steady blasts.

Across the lake, the canoers turned and began paddling back to the landing site. The diving class splashed into the water one last time and began swimming for shore. The rugrats' ball game, on the other hand, continued at full speed.

"Hey! Pack it in!" Sakura shouted. The kids continued to ignore her.

"Were we that annoying at their age?" Naruto wondered. "Do you even remember being that young?"

"You were the most annoying seven-year-old brat I have ever had the misfortune of meeting," Sakura assured him. "Now pretend you're a responsible leader and come help me herd these brats out of the lake. I might even wear a bikini tomorrow if you do."

"What, really?" Naruto said, scrambling to his feet with an eager expression. "Did you bring the green one with the string ties and the mesh patches? Because you totally rocked that outfit. Even Sasuke admitted it when we got back to our cabin. Do you promise you'll wear a bikini if I help out?"

"No," Sakura said, and shoved him into the lake.

This might be her last summer at the camp, her last break before the troubles of the real world swallowed her alive. She might as well have some fun while she could. Sakura dove cleanly into the water beside Naruto and struck out toward the roped-off shallows, trusting her friend to follow.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

**AN: **Thanks for reading, and please review! I'm particularly interested in knowing what parts of the story worked for you, what parts didn't, and _why_.


	2. What Is Essential

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is the intellectual property of Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, VIZ Media, et al. No money is being made from this story and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Note:** I wrote this for **askerian**, in response to the following prompt: _Or how the summer camp they're at is actually pretty high security, because a lot of the kids who go there are from clan or otherwise privileged backgrounds. Sakura got in her first year because she was friends with Ino (who's low clan, but still clan) and Ino wanted to show off. Except then Sakura fell in with Naruto and Sasuke and got tangled in high politics almost despite herself._ (In other words, I listed some ideas I had for this AU and she told me to pick one and elaborate on it. So I did.)

**Summary:** Sakura went to summer camp to be with her best friend Ino. Somehow over the next two years, she ended up best friends with two jerks instead.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o  
**What Is Essential**  
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The first year Sakura went to Leaf Shadow Summer Camp, it was entirely because of Ino. Not because her parents couldn't afford the fees (landscape design paid fairly well, after all, at least when you lived in the capitol and half your client list was filled with various clan bigwigs trying to outdo each other in mansion upkeep and whatever), and not because of the security checks (see above re: clan client list - the Haruno family had been investigated with a fine tooth comb a dozen times over by Sakura's seventh birthday), but because it simply would never have occurred to her mom and dad to throw their shy, beloved daughter into a horde of clan kids who'd probably spend the entire summer looking down on her.

Sending her off with her closest friend was a completely different proposition. And Ino did make an effort to include Sakura, but she was naturally outgoing and quickly gathered a clique of admirers which left Sakura - too nervous and awkward to push forward and defend her place as best friend - inevitably sidelined.

She started spending a lot of time around the arts and crafts center, and also the nature lectures and the gardens and the stables. Sakura was used to being alone. At least at camp the other kids didn't tease and bully her the way her schoolmates used to. It wasn't the summer she'd imagined when Ino asked her to come, but it was still pretty cool.

Except for Uzumaki Naruto.

Sakura knew him on sight, of course. Everyone in Fire Country did. But she hadn't known until she met him at camp just how _annoying_ he was. He never shut up, he never stopped moving, he never lowered his voice, he had a horrible sense of humor, and even worse, he decided he _liked_her. So she was the one he kept playing pranks on, and no matter how much she told on him to the counselors, or how hard she tried to hide in quiet places that he'd think were boring, she couldn't get him to stop. It was exactly like school before Ino.

Except maybe not.

Because when they were learning to canoe and Ino stood up and tipped herself and Sakura into the water, and then started yelling about how awful her hair and her clothes looked, and why hadn't Sakura been more careful, and Sakura wished she could slip out of her life jacket and sink to the bottom of the lake, Naruto stood up in his own canoe and jumped into the water, accidentally kicking his partner overboard behind him. He surfaced, sputtering, and grinned like his mouth wanted to split his scarred face in half.

"Hey, hey, what are you mad about?" he shouted at Ino. "This is way more fun than stupid boats! Look, I'm a dolphin!" He spit a mouthful of water out through the gap where one of his front teeth was missing.

"Idiot!" Ino shrieked, dodging the arc of spit-tainted water. She thrashed toward him and forgot about Sakura.

So maybe Naruto wasn't _all_ bad. Just mostly. And still the most annoying person in the world.

o-o-o-o-o

The next year, Ino's invitation was less a full-out assault plan - more a casual, "Oh, hey, you're coming to camp again, right?" tossed off during lunch one day at school - and Sakura's agreement was less immediate, but come the end of the semester they headed off in Ino's big family car, passed easily through the security checkpoints, carted their luggage into their new cabin, and greeted the other girls they'd share a room with for the next two months.

Most of them were the same as last year. Most of the boys were the same too. The biggest change was Uchiha Sasuke.

Everybody in Fire Country knew him on sight now, just like Naruto. News about the terrorist attack on his clan's compound had been everywhere last autumn. But unlike Naruto, Sasuke wasn't annoying. He was quiet and kept to himself, and somehow that made everybody want to get close to him.

"He's so _romantic_," Ino sighed one night as Sakura brushed her hair, fixing it up after a day of sweat and swimming. "Like a real tragic hero, you know? I want to be the one who makes him smile again!"

Sakura looked down at the brush in her hands, running smoothly through her friend's long blonde hair. "I guess," she said.

_She_wanted to make Sasuke smile. It wasn't right for people to be as alone as he was trying to be. She knew what isolation felt like, and she didn't want anyone else to hurt that way. Even if he seemed to want the pain.

The thing was, Ino's attempts to get Sasuke's attention didn't work. She'd ask him to help with arts and crafts and he'd move to a different table and tell her to ask the supervising counselor. She'd try to hold his hand on a hike and he'd pull back and walk so fast she couldn't keep up and the counselors started yelling at them for getting too far ahead. She'd sit next to him at meals and talk and talk, and he'd just turn away and tune her out.

Nobody got any reaction out of Sasuke except avoidance.

Except Naruto.

Apparently he really was the most annoying person in the world. He could actually get Sasuke to explode - and he did, to the point where they were forbidden to sit at the same table, and Sakura even heard they got reassigned to separate cabins.

Which made it very confusing when Iruka-san assigned them to the same canoe on their first river trip, with Sakura stuck between them.

It wasn't much of a trip, as Naruto loudly informed everyone. "We're just going like a mile and having a stupid picnic and then we're not even paddling back or carrying our canoes over a portage or anything. That's nothing! I went on a real trip with Kakashi-jisan this spring down south and we had tents and everything and camped out for two whole nights and saw a bunch of giant bugs and an _alligator_. So there!"

He turned around to glare at Sasuke, who sat in the back of their canoe, steering.

"That sounds nice," Sakura said. "But, um, can you turn around and keep paddling? I'm afraid we'll hit the rocks."

"Pffft! Only if that stuck-up bastard steers us wrong," Naruto said. "I'm the best at canoes! And you're good, too, Sakura-chan," he added, turning again to smile at her.

"The rocks!" Sakura said, and Naruto faced forward just in time to stick his paddle out and prod them away from a large stone rising from the moving water. They were heading downstream to the picnic ground, where they would leave the canoes for a camp truck to collect while they hiked back.

"See, no problem!" Naruto said cheerfully. "You worry too much, Sakura-chan. Even if Sasuke keeps crashing us into the rocks."

"Idiot," Sasuke muttered behind her.

"Hey, you're the one who's supposed to be steering! And I'm not an idiot," Naruto said, turning around _again_.

"I have enough trouble making sure we don't tip when you keep turning around," Sasuke said. "_Idiot_."

Sakura jabbed her paddle to the right and fended off another rock. All the other canoes were well ahead of them now, paddling faster than the lazy flow of the broad, shallow river while she was stuck with two arguing boys. She already knew Naruto was dumb. She was starting to think maybe Sasuke was just as bad - or at least Naruto was just that good at dragging people down to his level.

"I am not an idiot!" Naruto repeated, still facing backwards.

Sasuke switched his paddle to the other side of the canoe, deliberately aiming them toward another rock.

"The rock! The rock!" Sakura shouted, trying frantically to paddle them away. But she couldn't work against both the current and Sasuke, and Naruto was trying to crawl over her to reach Sasuke instead of doing anything to help, and the rock got closer and closer, and-

Naruto grabbed hold of Sasuke's life jacket just as they crashed and tipped into the water.

Luckily the body of the canoe shielded them from the rock, but Naruto and Sasuke were too busy trying to drown each other to grab hold of either the boat or their paddles. Sakura, caught between them, managed to hang onto her paddle like grim death, but the edge of the canoe slipped through her grasping fingers and drifted away down the river while the boys thrashed and kicked and generally tried to drown her, too.

She ducked underwater and pushed herself away, using the rock like the side of a swimming pool. She didn't get very far - the paddle and her life jacket were a big drag - but just enough to be out of the boys' reach. Sakura jammed the paddle down into the riverbed as an anchor and breathed for a minute.

The boys drifted slowly downstream, unable to keep any solid footing on the slippery rocks and mud. Eventually Sakura took pity on them.

But not much. They'd shouted in her ears, knocked her into the water, and practically beat her up trying to get at each other. Now she was _sure_Sasuke was just as bad as Naruto.

Sakura hung onto her paddle and started to swim down the river toward the boys. They didn't notice when she passed them, too busy hitting and shouting and spitting out the water they kept splashing in each other's faces. Sakura found a shallow spot, set her feet, raised her paddle over her head, and waited for them to drift into range.

Then she brought the paddle down on their interlocked arms.

"You're BOTH idiots!" she yelled. "Look what you did! We lost our canoe, we're soaking wet, we're going to miss lunch, Iruka-san's going to be _so mad_, everyone will laugh, and it's _all your fault_. BOTH of you! I HATE you!"

She swung the paddle again, slamming it down on the shoulder of Sasuke's life jacket. "Everybody thinks you're so cool, but you're just a jerk!" she shouted at him. "And you're a jerk too!" she added, turning to swing the paddle sideways into Naruto's stomach. "Jerk, jerk, jerk, jerk, _asshole!_"

Sakura raised the paddle again, but Sasuke lunged forward and tackled her around her waist, knocking her back into the water. She lost her grip, and the paddle floated away after their lost canoe.

When she surfaced, sputtering, the first thing she heard over the sound of water was Naruto's laughter. Sakura closed her eyes as tight as she could, not wanting to see the expression on Sasuke's face.

"Oh gods, oh spirits, that was _awesome_. That was the best thing ever! You rock, Sakura-chan!"

"She hit you too, idiot," Sasuke snapped.

"Like I care! Seriously, _best thing ever_. Didn't I tell you she was awesome?"

"She's friends with Ino," Sasuke said, as if that was a horrible crime.

"Pffft, whatever. If you actually talked to people sometimes, I bet the girls wouldn't push at you so hard. But oh right, I forgot, you're the only person who ever had anything bad happen in his life and you can never smile again. Dumbass."

A hand gripped Sakura's left shoulder, helping steady her on the uneven riverbed. Another hand gripped her right arm, offering counterbalance.

Maybe the world wouldn't end if she opened her eyes.

Sakura raked her sodden hair from her face and glared at the two boys holding on to her. Naruto grinned like they were lifelong friends and she'd given him the best birthday present ever - which was dumb, and stupid, and crazy, but also really hard to resist smiling back. And Sasuke...

Sasuke was smiling too. Just a little, like his face was rusty and he didn't quite remember how it was supposed to move, but definitely smiling.

"You're smiling," Sakura said, her hand reaching instinctively toward him.

Immediately Sasuke's face snapped back into a scowl. "You're hallucinating," he said.

"Hey! Didn't I tell you back at camp not to insult Sakura-chan?" Naruto said, swinging toward him.

Oh for the love of spring, they were going to start fighting again. Sakura lifted her hands and smacked them both across the backs of their heads. "Shut up. Both of you! I don't care what you do at camp, but right now we need to get over to the shore and start walking toward the picnic ground before Iruka-san sees our canoe float past and comes and finds us standing in the middle of the river yelling at each other like a bunch of morons."

The boys stared at her.

Fine. Whatever. Sakura officially Did Not Care anymore. "Or you can keep fighting like grumpy babies. Because you _are_babies! I'm going to go find Iruka-san and the others. I want a towel and I want lunch."

She started slogging toward the shore. It was hard work - the water was always at least up to her waist, and sometimes she stepped into a pothole and it came up to her shoulders or all the way over her head. The rocks and mud were slimy and kept shifting under her feet. And the river pushed at her, trying to shove her downstream. The summer sun overhead was warm, but the water itself was chilly and growing colder by the second, now that she wasn't too angry to notice the temperature.

The boys argued for what felt like forever until they finally started splashing after her. Sakura refused to turn and look at them. They were a pair of dumbass jerks, and she didn't care if they fell or drowned or got eaten by an alligator.

The worst part was that she knew she couldn't tell anyone. Ino wouldn't believe that Sasuke was just as bad as Naruto, and the only girl who didn't have a crush on Sasuke was Hyuuga Hinata, who had a crush on Naruto and wouldn't listen to anything bad about _him_. Iruka-san was a good counselor and would probably believe her, but he thought everyone in the world was a good person at heart and would probably give her a lecture on forgiveness and stuff instead of letting her scream like she wanted to.

"Why is this stupid river so wide?" she yelled, tipping her head back to shout at the sky.

"I don't know," Naruto shouted from behind her. "Hey, are we even heading for the right shore? Which side is the picnic ground on anyway?"

"The left shore," Sasuke said.

Sakura stopped dead in the water, barely two meters away from the _right_edge of the river. Slowly, she turned around. Her hands clenched into fists.

The boys stayed just a little bit ahead of her all the way back across the river and down the banks to the picnic ground, where they crashed through the trees just in time to interrupt Iruka-san from setting out to find them.

o-o-o-o-o

The next morning Sakura got up early and went to breakfast without Ino. Nobody had ended up laughing at her yesterday, but she still felt raw and grumpy and didn't want to listen to Ino praise Sasuke while running down Naruto. She took a container of fruit yogurt from the refrigerator in the dining hall and sat at the back corner table with one of the books she'd brought for rainy days. It was the newest in a series and her mom had bought it in hardcover as a special summer present.

It seemed like she'd barely started reading before two bodies thumped down across the table from her.

Sakura glanced up, startled, to see Naruto and Sasuke sitting next to each other, both determinedly ignoring each other's presence.

"Hey, what're you reading?" Naruto asked, talking through a mouthful of cereal. "Kakashi-jisan and Jiraiya-jiisan keep telling me I need to read more, but then they won't let me read their books and all the ones in the Old Man's house are about politics and stuff like that."

"The old man?" Sakura asked.

Naruto shrugged. "You know, Sarutobi-san."

Right. Naruto was the son of Namikaze-san, the previous prime minister, and would naturally know his father's mentor. But somehow the idea of the annoying jerk she knew from camp running around in the prime minister's mansion refused to make sense, even though she'd seen him there on television sometimes during national holidays.

"My cousin Mariko was reading that series last year," Sasuke said, looking down at his plate as if talking to his salad. "It's girly trash - stupid nonsense about a princess in disguise and magical horses and rainbow fairies and idiotic things like that. They solve all their problems with the power of friendship instead of fighting. It's disgusting."

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with friendship!" Naruto said, waving his spoon in Sasuke's face. "If more people tried to be friends instead of being jerks, the world would be a lot better place. I bet if a magical rainbow fairy came here right now, she'd have to cast a spell on you because _you're_an enemy of happiness!"

"I'd like to see a magical rainbow fairy deal with real problems, like war and terrorists and _people dying_," Sasuke snapped, glaring at Naruto like he wished he could set people on fire with his eyes.

Sakura's hand tightened on the spine of her book. Why were they here? Why couldn't they leave her in peace?

"If you don't make friends with people, they'll just keep on fighting and hurting you forever!" Naruto said. "That's what my dad said, and he was right. We made peace with Wind Country, and now all the people who had to run away from the borderlands have gone home and-"

"I won't make friends with the bastards who killed my parents!" Sasuke shouted, and lunged for Naruto.

Sakura hit them both with her book.

"Shut up! Shut up or go away and leave me alone! I don't care about your parents, I don't care about the war, I don't care about any of it! Just shut up and let me eat breakfast!"

She expected them to leave, but instead they rubbed their heads and settled down to eat, occasionally shooting evil glances toward each other. After a while, Naruto started talking about the day's planned activity - a giant, camp-wide scavenger hunt - and Sasuke joined in without even calling him names.

Iruka-san assigned the three of them as a team. Somehow, Sakura wasn't surprised.

She was surprised when they won. And when the boys kept hanging around, until days became weeks, weeks became a month, and then suddenly summer was over. They never stopped fighting, but after a while Sakura got used to the arguments. It helped that both Naruto and Sasuke had a healthy respect for her aim with a heavy object. And somewhere along the line, without her quite noticing, the two biggest jerks she knew turned into her best friends.

o-o-o-o-o

Next summer, Ino got sick with mononucleosis and couldn't go to camp. Sakura never even thought of staying home.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

**AN: **Thanks for reading, and please review! I'm particularly interested in knowing what parts of the story worked for you, what parts didn't, and _why_.


	3. After Frost

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is the intellectual property of Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, VIZ Media, et al. No money is being made from this story and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Note:** I wrote this for **hungrytiger11**, in response to the prompt: _Hinata + any of the girls, moving on._ I stuck it into the summer-camp-&-politics AU partly because I had an IDEA, and partly because I wanted to round off that world's continuity.

**Summary:** In the shadow of a vote over a bilateral free trade agreement with Thunder Country, Hyuuga Hinata moves on. **Warnings for ****depression, learned helplessness, dysfunctional families, and a traumatic backstory involving kidnapping, captivity, and murder.** (Despite all that, I promise this is ultimately a hopeful story.)

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o  
**After Frost**  
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Hinata-san? It's your father."

Hyuuga Hinata clamped down on her sudden desire to hide under her desk. "Thank you, Noriko-san," she said to her assistant, and picked up her telephone. "I have it."

She pressed the button for line one and motioned Noriko-san to close her office door. "Hello, Father," she said as the latch clicked quietly shut. "Is the family well?" The red light in the lower corner blinked off as Noriko hung up her own line.

As always, her father made a brusque noise - either dismissing her question altogether or compressing 'we are Hyuuga; we are always well, except for the shame your failings bring onto our name' into a single syllable. Hinata was never quite sure which interpretation she preferred.

"Uzumaki's bilateral free trade agreement will come before the assembly tomorrow afternoon," her father said. "It is, of course, out of the question for Fire Country to show any favor or weakness toward Thunder Country, particularly when their intelligence service still directs more than half the actions of the Sky Country insurgency."

"I mourn Mother and Hizashi-ojisan too, Father, but-" Hinata began.

"You will vote against the measure," her father said. "I know Uzumaki was a childhood friend of yours and I understand that you share acquaintances, but sentiment has no place in governance. You cannot destroy our country for a childish infatuation. In fact, this would be an excellent chance for you to show that you were not elected merely as a clan figurehead. You will make a speech before the measure is brought to a vote."

"I do not speak well in public, Father, but-" Hinata said.

"I will have your sister write something appropriate," her father said. "Expect an email tonight or tomorrow morning. Let the Goddess of Pure White Skies guide your path to bring us honor."

"Yes, Father, but-" Hinata tried one last time.

Her father hung up.

Hinata set the telephone carefully back into its cradle, laid her head down on her desk in the circle of her arms, and refused to scream.

o-o-o-o-o

She couldn't hide all day - as an Assemblywoman, she had responsibilities to her staff, to her colleagues, to her district, to her country - but Hinata fully intended to stay locked in her office as long as she could under pretext of reviewing letters from her constituents. Unfortunately, Noriko-san had developed a regrettable habit of trying to mother her and Haruno Sakura had never met a lock she couldn't open.

"Hinata, guess what! It's time for an emergency lunch meeting of the Leaf Shadow summer camp women's survivor club!" Sakura announced as she slipped a tiny glint of metal into her trouser pocket. Hinata wondered if it was an actual lock pick, or if her friend simply had master keys to every room in the capitol complex. She wouldn't bet against either option.

"I would love to come, but I have work," Hinata tried, waving a hand over her desk in demonstration.

"No excuses!" Sakura proclaimed, striding around Hinata's overloaded desk and pulling back her chair as if it and Hinata herself weighed nothing. "We are going to eat disgustingly overpriced sushi, reminisce about the stupid things we did as kids, and complain about everything under the sun until we're all grateful we don't have each other's jobs. Trust me, it will help."

"Yes, Sakura-chan, but-" said Hinata.

There was an awkward moment of silence when Sakura didn't interrupt her.

Hinata felt her face burn. She looked down and pressed the tips of her fingers together, that old nervous gesture she'd never quite managed to overcome.

"Your PA told me your father called," Sakura said, more gently. "I won't make you talk about it if you don't want to, but I know sitting here and stewing in your own thoughts can't possibly do you any good. At least come have something to eat and let us entertain you for a while."

"I- yes," Hinata said. "Thank you."

"What are friends for?" Sakura said. She took hold of Hinata's left hand and tugged her toward the doorway of her office. "Now, onward! The great sushi quest begins!"

Hinata grabbed her purse from the hook by the door and let herself be distracted.

o-o-o-o-o

The restaurant barely deserved the name - it was basically a kitchen in a basement, with four tables indoors and another four crowding the sidewalk to the point where pedestrians nearly had to walk in the street itself. A little voice in the back of Hinata's mind whispered that this was unsuitable for a daughter of the Hyuuga, that it wasn't safe, that it probably wasn't sanitary, that she should turn around and leave.

She set her teeth and waved back to Yamanaka Ino, who had borrowed a chair from a group of teenagers at a four-person table and climbed onto it to be seen over the midday crowds that thronged downtown Konoha.

"Karin and I count as our own security, and Neji wrangled an official protection detail for Tenten as soon as she told him about the baby," Sakura murmured into Hinata's ear. "Relax. Nobody will touch you in the middle of Konoha."

"I am not worried," Hinata said.

Sakura smiled, placing one hand on the small of Hinata's back and steering her through the press of the moving crowd. "Say that again without white knuckles and I might believe you. Hi, Ino!" she added as they broke through into the little respite of the restaurant's makeshift patio area. "Where are Tenten and Karin?"

"In the bathroom and flirting with the chef, respectively," Ino said, jumping lightly down from her perch on the white plastic chair. "Hinata! Long time no see! Well, in person. I see you all the time on K-PAN, casting your votes like a good little Assemblywoman, but besides that I don't think I've seen you since Naruto threw that college graduation bash." She leaned forward and hugged Hinata enthusiastically, trapping Hinata's arms at her sides so she was unable to return the gesture.

"Hello, Ino-chan," Hinata said as the teens reclaimed their chair. "You look well today."

Ino let go and tossed her head, flicking her long blonde ponytail through the air. "As if there'd ever be a day when I _wouldn't_ look great. But thanks. You look cute yourself. A bit tired, though. Have you been getting enough sleep?" She swept a measuring gaze up and down Hinata's body as if assessing her for a makeover.

"Behave," Sakura said, swatting Ino on the shoulder. "Hinata has her own PR hacks and you have too many clients already. Stop looking at her like fresh meat."

Ino pouted melodramatically. "I can't help it, I love what I do!" But she turned and gestured toward the stairs leading down into the dark basement interior of the restaurant. "Shall we go order? I reserved the whole interior so we won't have to be super-ultra-careful what we say, just in case."

"I am not going to spill state secrets to you," Sakura said in a disapproving tone, but her eyes were laughing.

"We'll see if you change your tune after a few cups of sake," Ino said with a toothy smile.

Hinata bit her lip to hide her amusement as she followed her old friends out of the midday sun.

o-o-o-o-o

Half an hour later, the five women were clustered around a too-small table, leaning in to hear each other over the bustle of the kitchen and the steady parade of delivery drivers - apparently the restaurant made most of its profit on takeout orders, not sit-down dining. Street noise trickled steadily down as well, a mixture of engines, car horns, and the endless rise and fall of layered human voices.

"-see in him?" Sakura was asking. "I mean, okay, the man is sex on legs - I am woman enough to admit it! - but how can you stand to talk to him for more than five minutes, let alone work with him?"

"Oral sex," Ino said, straight faced.

"Ino-chan!" Hinata protested, her face burning. Karin-san and Sakura whooped with laughter, and even Tenten giggled.

"I'm not kidding about that!" Ino insisted. "But more seriously, Sai's _brilliant_. Okay, he sucks at talking to people, but he's a freaking genius with numbers and polling and social systems analysis. He knows what topics are going to hit home with what people. Then it's my job to put that in the right words, and make sure our client projects the right image to match those words."

"And what if the 'right' topics and the words don't match your client's beliefs?" Tenten asked, suddenly serious. "What then?"

Ino shrugged. "Not our problem. It's up to the media and the voters to keep the government honest, don't you think? If they can't see through a pretty picture, that's their own fault."

"Mercenary," Sakura said, a fond tone undermining the condemnation.

"Did I ever claim I wasn't?" Ino asked. "Somebody's going to make a lot of money painting pretty faces on garbage. It might as well be- oooh, look, inarizushi!" She stabbed her chopsticks toward the new assortment one of the harried chefs brought to replace their first sample platter.

Tenten made a face and carefully moved all the sauces away from herself. "Another bowl of plain miso, please?" she asked as the chef turned to leave. He nodded and took her empty bowl. "I hate being pregnant," she said. "I can't eat anything lately, just bland, bland, bland. I'm starting to have fantasies about swimming in soy sauce once the baby is born."

"Bleh," said Karin-san. "Can you imagine the smell? I bet you could shower for days and not get it out of your hair."

"Mmmm, yes," Tenten said with a longing sigh.

"And that right there is why I am never getting married or having kids," Ino said, wrinkling her nose. "No offense, Tenten, but that's just disgusting. Come on, Sakura, agree with me."

Sakura shook her head. "I don't know, kids might be nice. And we're all closing in on thirty-five now. It's something I think about sometimes."

"Kids, but not marriage?" Karin-san asked, adjusting her glasses so they caught the light at a dramatic angle. "Haruno! How forward of you." She leaned over the table and said in a stage whisper, "Which one would you pick for the father: my cousin or my commander?"

Sakura was very still, her hands clenched tight on the edge of the table to restrain herself.

Hinata took the chance to stand abruptly. "I'm sorry, please excuse me, I have to take a moment in the facilities," she said, and fled.

o-o-o-o-o

The bathroom was tiny, just a single room with a toilet, a sink, and a roll of paper towels and a bar of soap on a board nailed to the wall. The mirror behind the sink was dim and spotted, the metal flawed behind the glass where no cleaning could reach it. Hinata looked at herself for a second - soft round face, unflattering wedge bangs, creepy gray-violet eyes, boring black suit that made her look neither like a woman or a man, just a washed-out ghost trying too hard to please everyone and always failing. Then she looked away.

She didn't resent Sakura for her relationship with Naruto, whatever the truth of it was. Those two and Uchiha Sasuke had been locked together since they were eight years old, no matter how long it had taken them all to admit it. And however much Hinata had loved Naruto from afar as a teen, she had always respected him more. He never let anyone push him around, never let anyone tell him what to think or who to be. He was kind about it, too, in his brash way. He'd take the time to say hello to her and be her partner in various activities.

(He really only partnered her when Sakura and Sasuke were angry with him, but even so. Naruto was never cruel the way some other campers were. He'd smile and give her a hug and tell her she was cool. Nobody else ever said anything like that to Hinata. Not before- _before_, and especially not after.)

But it hurt, seeing people she'd grown up with so confident in themselves. Ino was one of the most sough-after PR consultants in Konoha, Karin-san was a colonel in the army and Sasuke's closest advisor on the unified military command council, Tenten had argued cases before the supreme court, and Sakura practically ran the domestic aspects of the executive branch as Naruto's chief of staff while he focused on international diplomacy. And where was Hinata? A junior Assemblywoman, shoved into office last year at her father's orders without any practical experience or freedom to act on her own choices. Father dictated her votes on all important issues.

Like he was doing now, again, with Naruto's trade agreement.

"I have as much reason to hate Thunder Country as you do, Father," Hinata whispered, meeting her own gaze in the dirty mirror. "I have more reason. I watched while the insurgents killed Mother, right in front of me and Hanabi. I heard Hizashi-ojisan scream before they closed the door. I was there. You weren't."

The cold helplessness of those three months in the mountains that formed the border between Sky Country and Thunder Country seeped back into her bones despite all the years between twelve and thirty-three. The darkness of the cinderblock cellar where she and Hanabi huddled in Mother's arms. The stink of gunpowder and blood that lingered around their guards. The heartless calculation in the eyes of the Thunder Country intelligence officers who visited now and then.

Even now she didn't know if they'd been after ransom, or political influence, or even the oracular sight that touched certain members of her clan from generation to generation - a gift from the Goddess of Pure White Skies in return for faithful service. They'd certainly talked about all three. _"Rich daddy loves his money more than you, girlie,"_ they said. _"What do you think your bastard father will do to get his little princess back? Will he tear your country apart? Do you think you're worth it?"_ they said. _"Can't you see a way out, white eyes? Can't you prophesy how this is going to end?"_ they said.

Hinata still heard their voices in her dreams.

Mother always singled the intelligence officers out, no matter how they tried to disguise their accents or dirty their clothes. She insisted that whatever threats or bribes they offered, neither Fire Country nor the Hyuuga would ever bargain with terrorists.

Except it turned out the Hyuuga would. _Father_ would. Father did.

Cousin Neji had never forgiven him.

Some days Hinata thought she never had either.

"I let it go," she whispered to her reflection, her eyes blurring into a replica of her father's frozen gaze - different from the intelligence officers only because his emptiness was masked by anger instead of false regret. "I was there and I let it go. Why can't you? Why can't you let me go?"

_And what would you do if I did?_ she imagined him saying. _Do you think you could keep your seat in the Assembly if I told our district to vote for one of your cousins? Do you imagine that you, so useless and scared you can hardly speak to friends, could mount a campaign? Do you think you have the strength to stand on your own? Don't be foolish, Hinata. Be a good girl and do as I tell you. I see further than you, and I have the best interests of our family and our country at heart._

"But you don't," Hinata said to her father's imagined face. "You don't. You just want us locked up where nothing can touch us - not even to make us happy. Not even to make peace. You froze everything when Mother died and you're too scared of losing anything else to try making anything better."

In her head, Father had nothing to say. Not because she thought he would agree, but because she had no idea what he would say to those words. He had never let her speak enough to get anywhere near such dangerous waters. She had never pushed back and made him listen.

Hinata closed her eyes and wondered why it had taken her nearly two decades to realize that Father had taken her hostage as surely as the terrorists had done. He had driven Cousin Neji away. He had turned Hanabi's heart as cold and empty as his own. And yet, even now, she still hoped he might unlock the door of her prison, smile as he led her into the sun, and love her again, the way he had when Mother was still alive.

o-o-o-o-o

Somebody knocked on the bathroom door.

"Are you all right, Hinata-chan?" Sakura asked, barely loud enough for her voice to carry through the flimsy wooden door. "If it's food poisoning, I'm sure Tenten will sue this place into bankruptcy for you."

"No, no, I'm fine," Hinata said. "I just- I needed a minute. Thank you for your concern." She turned on the water and dabbed at her face with a dampened paper towel, letting the cold water break the grip of her spiraling thoughts.

"We're about finished, anyway," Sakura said. "Do you want me to walk you back to your office?"

"It's the opposite direction of the Cliff House," Hinata said. She dried her hands and unlocked the door. "I will be fine. As you said, no one will touch me in the heart of Fire Country." She had said the same thing to Father for years. Somehow, after two decades of bodyguards and recurring stretches when she spent weeks without leaving the clan compound in Byakugan province, it was hard to believe her own words - but she was Hyuuga. She would not give in to fear.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I know, I know, but humor me? If I'm obviously talking to you, I'm less likely to get ambushed by passing idiots. Besides, we're going the same way. I have to remind a bunch of Assemblymen that they owe Naruto a truckload of favors and they'd damn well better pay up in tomorrow's vote."

Something in Hinata's face must have cracked.

"Oh," Sakura said. Her hand crept forward to touch Hinata's shoulder, feather-light. "That's what your father called about, isn't it?"

Hinata turned away.

Sakura's hand pressed down more firmly, a comforting weight. "Come on, let's get out of here."

She guided Hinata back to their table and picked up her wallet and Hinata's purse. "Hey, sorry to run, but I just got a text from Abe Shinzo's PA that he's actually manned up and agreed to meet with me, so Hinata and I are heading back to the capitol office complex. What do we owe you?"

Karin-san closed her eyes for a second, lips twitching as she did rapid arithmetic. "Oh, twenty each and we'll call it even. Yamanaka's rich, she can cover the difference."

"No problem," Sakura said. She tossed down the bills and nudged Hinata toward the stairs and the street, using Ino's strident protests over her relative financial status to cover their escape.

o-o-o-o-o

Sakura kept the conversation light all the way back to Hinata's office. She complained about Naruto's inability to follow a schedule, the way her left knee had started acting up more and more since she turned thirty, Sasuke's tendency to take "keep the army out of politics" as a way of shutting them out on a personal level when he was feeling grumpy, the unfairly high prices of quality chocolate, the difficulty of tamping down on leaks now that everybody and their dog had a smartphone and a blog, the way the media always had to mention her hair color even in articles whose point was to highlight her management style or her past in ANBU, and so on and so forth. Hinata made 'yes, I am listening, please continue' noises in the appropriate pauses and let Sakura link their arms so they presented a united front as they walked.

When they reached the office complex, Hinata expected Sakura to turn down the other corridor toward Assemblyman Abe's suite. Instead, Sakura continued walking with her.

"I am sorry for taking so much of your time when you have an urgent meeting," Hinata said when they reached the outer door of her modest two-room offices. "Please give Abe-san my regards."

"There is no meeting," Sakura said with a sharp smile. "Or rather, there will be a meeting, but that's only because I'm going to break into that arrogant twit's office and keep him there until he shuts up and listens for once in his life. But here and now, I need to talk with you." She turned her head to look at Noriko-san, who was doing a bad job of pretending not to watch them. "Sato-san, please find somewhere else to be for an hour."

"I answer to Hinata-san, not you," Noriko-san said.

"Oh _really_," Sakura said, stepping forward. "And yet, it was my understanding that Hyuuga Hiashi is the one who pays your wages and gets a report on Hinata's actions every other week. How does that count as answering to my friend? Please, tell me, I'm very curious!"

"Noriko-san, please, don't worry," Hinata said hastily. "You may leave for the day if you wish. I have no meetings and I can read the details of upcoming motions for myself."

"You're sure, Hinata-san?" Noriko-san asked, looking dubiously from Hinata to Sakura and back again.

"Yes. I will be fine," Hinata said. She opened the inner door and made little shooing gestures, hoping to separate her friend and her assistant. Sakura gave Noriko-san a hard look, but stepped into Hinata's private office.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have said that about your father. Did you know that your PA-"

"Noriko-san told me on her first day at work," Hinata said. "Of course I know that Father wishes to know what I have done. It harms no one if Noriko-san earns extra money for her family by telling him the truth. I have no secrets from him." Or rather, she had no secrets he would consider important. He never considered her thoughts and desires important, so long as her words and body obeyed.

"It's still not right," Sakura said. She pressed her ear against the closed door, apparently listening to be certain Noriko-san had left. Then she locked the door and moved to sit on the edge of Hinata's messy desk. "So. Naruto's trade agreement. Your father wants you to vote no."

Hinata looked down at her clasped hands. "I am only in the Assembly as his proxy, because Iwate-san had his stroke last year before Father had groomed a proper replacement. You know that."

Sakura folded her arms. "You're here because you were legally elected by the voters of Byakugan's fourth district. I don't care that your father runs the province as a feudal fief and intimidated everyone else into staying out of the race - the law is the law. You're the Assemblywoman. He's not. Therefore your vote is your right and responsibility, not his."

"I owe him-" Hinata began.

This time, Sakura interrupted her. "No. Stop that. I know you love him, Hinata. He's your father; of course you love him. But you don't owe him anything. He's not even the one who saved your life. Your uncle did that, and I don't think he'd want to see you still trapped in a cell, even if the bars aren't physical anymore." She sighed and uncrossed her arms. "You know, Naruto wanted to talk to you before he started the negotiations, but you keep ducking out of any contact, until I had to break in just to take you out for lunch. Just... please, what do _you_ think about Thunder Country?"

"I-" said Hinata, and ran out of words.

Sakura waited.

The silence pressed down like an interrogator: cold hands, hard eyes, and not a shred of pity.

"I think-" Hinata tried again.

Sakura slipped off the desk and wrapped her in a hug. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed. But I hate seeing you act so small. You're one of the bravest people I know, and nobody should make you feel scared or ashamed."

Hinata raised her arms, tentatively, and looped them around Sakura's waist. The contact was nearly a shock, the feel of skin and body heat and flesh over bones almost alien after the distance Father and Hanabi maintained even within the safety of their home, compounded by her own distaste for touching strangers.

"I want to support Naruto-kun," she whispered into Sakura's shoulder. "I don't trust Thunder Country. I'll never trust them. But if we don't reach out and try to create true peace, nothing will ever change. And I want things to change. I don't want anyone else to face what I faced."

"So vote yes," Sakura said.

"Father would never forgive me," Hinata whispered, her fingers digging into Sakura's back through the fabric of her shirt.

"You don't need his forgiveness. You haven't done anything wrong," Sakura said, her voice low and sure in Hinata's ear. "If he disowns you, you have friends to take you in. If he makes someone else run against you in the next election, who cares? If you want to campaign, we'll help you; if you don't, you can stay with us in Konoha anyway. I won't lie. It's useful that you're in the Assembly, and that you have the Hyuuga name behind you. But that's just annotations on the scroll. The important part is that you're you. You're our friend. And we want you to be happy."

"I- that is- thank you," Hinata said.

She managed to loosen her fingers and pull back her arms, tucking away that hungry need for touch. "Thank you," she said again. "I will think on your words. But for now, I do have work, and as you said, you have meetings to attend, whether the other people know to expect you or not. Please don't let me keep you from your job."

Sakura's face twisted in an awkward mix of anger and sorrow for a second, before she covered with a wry smile. "As my lady commands," she said, bending at the waist in a deep, respectful bow. "Remember: do what _you_ want, Hinata. And don't be a stranger. You'll always have friends ready to lend a hand."

She let herself out of Hinata's office and left the door open behind her.

o-o-o-o-o

The next afternoon, Hinata sat at her desk in the Assembly chambers with the printout of Hanabi's speech in her hands. She responded when her name was called in the attendance roll and sat attentively while the chairman of the day read the main text of the carefully negotiated bilateral free trade agreement. When he called for arguments in favor and against the proposal, she continued to sit silently.

Naruto was not present, of course. It was a drastic breach of protocol for the prime minister to enter the Assembly except during ceremonial investitures or the seasonal question sessions. Sasuke and Karin-san were obviously also absent, since Sasuke's position on the subordination of the military to the civilian government was well known. But she spotted Ino and Tenten in the gallery, and an hour into the speeches and the inevitable follow-up debates, Sakura slipped into the room through a back door and leaned against the edge of the stage that held the chairman's podium with folded arms, her bland smile and sharp eyes a tacit threat and reminder to any wavering supporters.

Hinata looked down at her sister's speech, repeating Father's hatred and fear and sublimated guilt in smooth and nearly innocuous words.

She turned the papers over and laid them flat on her desk.

In the next gap between speeches, she held up her hand and strained her voice. "Please excuse me, Chairman Izushima-san. I would like to speak on this issue."

"The Assembly recognizes Hyuuga Hinata-san, representative of Byakugan province district four, to speak on the issue of the proposed trade agreement with Thunder Country," the chairman said. "In favor or against?"

Hinata drew a deep breath. _I am sorry, Father_, she thought, and rose.

"In favor."

She walked forward through the startled rustle of her colleagues shifting in their seats, shuffling papers, and urgently tapping on their PDAs. She reached the microphone next to the podium and turned to face the sea of hungry faces.

Hinata closed her eyes, praying for the words and the voice to make her stand. _Goddess of Pure White Skies, lend me your strength. You who are always and only yourself, help me be true to the path I choose to follow. Guide me through the blank wilderness of the future to the most favorable end - for my country, for my family, for my friends, and for myself._

A faint touch, like cold arms made of wind and snow shaped into human form, pressed against her in a fleeting hug.

Hinata opened her eyes. And she saw the future change.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

**AN: **Thanks for reading, and please review! I'm particularly interested in knowing what parts of the story worked for you, what parts didn't, and _why_.


End file.
